Artsy Characters in Xiamen

I was in Gulangyu (鼓浪屿), Xiamen (厦门) again over the CNY break, and I noticed some interesting designs using characters:

Untitled

This one is a cafe/bar called 东西, which, aside from meaning “thing” or “stuff,” also literally means “east-west.” The fusion is looking pretty intimate in this design.

Untitled

These three characters (not the two small ones at bottom right) are quite cryptic on this sign! Here’s how the same name is written in another place:

Untitled

The name is 那些年 (“Those Years”). Can you see those three characters in the previous sign?

Finally, a very simple characterplay on the character :

Untitled

Untitled

Share

John Pasden

John is a Shanghai-based linguist and entrepreneur, founder of AllSet Learning.

Leave a Reply